Making the Digital Economy Work for Consumers

Making the Digital Economy Work for Consumers

Event Sections

Consumers’ lifestyles are increasingly connected and borders are less and less relevant when shopping online for goods and services. While a fully-fledged Digital Single Market (DSM) must aim at boosting innovation and job creation throughout the EU, it must also ensure that consumers can benefit from the gains in a safe and secure way.

Consumer protection needs to be brought into the digital age. Between the entry into force of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the recent European Commission’s proposal for a New Deal for Consumers, this year has been rich in developments. How much remains to be done?

With still half of the EU’s Digital Single Market strategy to be completed by May 2019, how much harmonization has been achieved, to what benefit? What are the bottlenecks and what will be left to the next legislature?

What are the main barriers left? What is the impact of the remaining regulatory walls on consumers? Are they creating winners and losers?

European legislation is only now catching up with e-commerce, is consumer law fit for emerging issues such as blockchain or artificial intelligence? How can these new technologies be part of the answer?

What are companies doing to protect consumers online and what could they do better?

European Parliament

Please note that you need to provide us with the following information if you are not accredited to the European Parliament: family name; first name; date of birth; nationality; type of ID document & number

This POLITICO event will be immediately followed by EGBA's Responsbile Gaming Day

Speakers

Věra Jourová, European Commissioner for Justice, Consumers and Gender Equality

Věra Jourová is the European Commissioner for Justice, Consumers and Gender Equality, a position she has held since 2014. Prior to joining the Commission, she was Minister for Regional Development in the Czech Republic. From 2006 to 2013, Jourová directed her own international consultancy on European Union funding and advised on activities relating to European Union Accession in the Western Balkans. She was Deputy Minister for Regional Development from 2003 to 2006 and Head of the Department of Regional Development in the Vysočina Region from 2001 to 2003. Previously, she served as Secretary and Spokesperson of the Třebič Municipal Office, from 1995 to 2001. Jourová holds a MA in Law and a MA in the Theory of Culture from the Charles University in Prague.

Christian Borggreen, Vice President and Head Of Office, CCIA Europe

Christian Borggreen is Vice President and Head of the Brussels office of the Computer & Communications Industry Association (CCIA) which he joined in August 2014. He leads CCIA’s work on a wide range of EU and international policy issues including international trade, data flows, and Internet governance. Borggreen also leads CCIA’s engagement with international institutions such as the WTO, ITU, IGF and the OECD. Before joining CCIA, Borggreen served from 2010 to 2014 as policy advisor at the U.S. Mission to the EU. In his role for the U.S. Department of State, he managed and advised senior U.S. decision makers on digital policy issues. He played a key role in securing transatlantic alignment on Internet governance and in promoting interoperability in the areas of data privacy and online commerce. From 2008 to 2010 he managed the advocacy on digital economy policy advocacy for the American Chamber of Commerce to the EU. Prior to that, he worked for the United Nations in New York and Santiago de Chile, in the area of digital and economic development.

Dita Charanzová, Vice-Chair of the Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection, European Parliament

Dita Charanzová is a Czech MEP for the ANO 2011 party, part of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE) group. Charanzová was elected to the European Parliament in 2014. She is the Vice-Chair of the Internal Market and Consumer Protection Committee (IMCO) where she is currently the ALDE coordinator. Charanzová has been a leading MEP on the Digital Single Market strategy and is currently rapporteur for the IMCO Committee on the European Electronic Communications Code. Before her election, she was Manager of MediaBox broadcast studio from 2012 to 2014 during sittings of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe. As a former diplomat, she led the Trade and Development policy team at the Permanent Representation of the Czech Republic to the European Union in Brussels from 2005 to 2009. Charanzová holds a Phd from the University of Economics in Prague where she studied Engineer and a MA from de Diplomatic School of Spain.

Pachl is currently Deputy Director-General at BEUC, the European Consumer Organization. She has worked at BEUC since October 1997 including as Senior Policy Advisor and Legal Advisor. BEUC represents 41 independent national consumer associations from 31 European countries. The primary task of BEUC is to act as a strong consumer voice in Brussels and to try to ensure that consumer interests are given their proper weight in the development of all Community policies. Pachl leads BEUC’s work on the Digital Single Market and on consumer rights and enforcement. She is also responsible for horizontal and strategic policy issues, represents BEUC in the European Commission’s REFIT platform and co-ordinates BEUC’s law enforcement project ‘COJEF’. Before working for BEUC, Pachl worked at the Austrian Federal Ministry of Health and Consumer Protection in Vienna and at the Austrian Consumer Information Association as a member of the Consumer Advisory Board.

Become a speaker

For more information on becoming a speaker for a POLITICO event, contact us online.

Sponsors

The European Gaming and Betting Association (EGBA)

The European Gaming and Betting Association (EGBA) is the Brussels-based trade association representing the leading online gaming and betting operators established, licensed and regulated within the EU. EGBA works together with national and EU authorities and other stakeholders towards a well-regulated market that provides a high level of consumer protection and takes into account the reality of the digital economy and consumer demand. www.egba.eu

Become a sponsor

For more information on becoming a sponsor for a POLITICO event, contact us online.